Democratic Sentinel, Volume 16, Number 39, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 14 October 1892 — “He Laughs Best,” Etc. [ARTICLE]

“He Laughs Best,” Etc.

Richard Crowder is one of the travelers who find a cordial welcome in Chicago at every visit, and he generally brings along the latest and happiest flights of imagination of the boys on the road, and frequently spins a tale as uniquely humorous as any of them, of his own invention. Here’s his latest: “I once frightened 200 colored people almost to death. They were holding a protracted meeting in a little tumble-down church near Nashville and the excitement ran high. I attended with some other bad boys, misbehaved and was fired out. I determined to break up the meeting. I procured some phosphorus, and the next night, before the crowd assembled, drew skeletons, death’s heads and devils all over the walls. I then concealed myself in the loft, armed with a long hollow reed; while my companions, provided with sheets and masks, hid themselves in the grove in which the church was situated. That night the church was packed, and religious fervor reached its climax. The preacher was picturing the horrors of hell and the hideousness of its master, and the sinners were shivering with apprehension. Two large lamps, hung in the center of the low room, furnished the light, and by the help of the hollow reed I blew them both out. The preacher stopped in the middle of his exhortation. The walls blazed forth with horrors traced in burning, snaky outlines. There was a convulsive gasp, a scream from 200 throats, and a stampede. The preacher went through a window, and, though a rheumatic, outran all his parishioners. Then my ghostly confederates appeared, uttering dismal groans. Scores of terrified blacks, unable to run, lay down and groaned with an agony of fear. The joke was too good to keep. My father heard of it. He was a Presbyterian divine and did not believe in trifling with sacred things. It is said that he laughs best who laughs last, and the colored people came in on the subsequent cachinnat ion.”